Wednesday, March 5, 2014
A little shop cleanup
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Its been a while since Ive done any sort of re-organizing in my shop. This past weekend I had some time to make things work a little better. The hardest part was deciding what wood I needed to part with. And the towels and rags...oh the towels and rags!
Monday, March 3, 2014
A Little Iron Work Some Quick Twisted Spindles
This afternoon a friend asked me if I had a good way to draw twisted iron spindles similar to the one on the left in the photograph. I hadnt really thought about drawing an iron railing before but I realized that drawing these twisted spindles could utilize a method similar to the finials I drew a little while back.
Three plugins will help to make quick work of this. They are DrawHelix 1.4, Weld and Extrude Edges by Rails. Im also going to divide the spindle into smaller components to keep the file size down. I think this is important since in a typical model, the spindle would only be a small part of the entire thing.
In this example I am creating a spindle that is 3/4 inches square.
The first step is to create the helixes for the twist. I activated DrawHelix from the Draw menu. The plugin asks for start and end radii, pitch and the number of turns I calculated the radius by multiplying 3/4 by 0.707. I set Pitch to 8 inches and set the number of turns to 1. The helix is drawn as a group centered on the origin and starting on the red axis. Next I rotate/copied it through 90°.
Next, with the Line tool, I drew a line between the bottom ends of the two helixes. I then divided the line into four segments and immediately after, I welded the segments together. Although the line will look the same as before this divide and weld step is required for the Extruded Edges by Rails step coming up. I chose to divide the line into four but it could have been 2 or more. The more segments you choose, the smoother the twist will be but that comes at the cost of a larger file size.
The helix groups were exploded and then the entire model was scaled up by a factor of 100. I drew a 1 inch long line off to the side a bit and measured that with the Tape Measure tool. I typed 100, hit Enter and clicked on Yes. Later, when it is time to scale back down, I just repeat the process but type 1.
Now it is time to start the extrusion. Activate Extrude Edges by Rails from the toolbar. The plugin directs you to first select the profile, then the first rail followed by the second rail and finally it asks for a melding profile. The line at the bottom is the profile. After it is selected it shows in cyan. The helixes are the rails and show in two shades of magenta after they are selected. For this profile, well click on the profile line for the melding profile.
After the extrusion is made you have to make some choices. Most of the answers will be no but you should answer Yes to deleting coplanar edges, reversing faces if the back face is on the outside, smoothing edges and deleting original lines as those are no longer needed. the extrusion is made as a group.
Scale the model back down at this point. Then explode the group and make it a component. Doing this after scaling back down ensures that the component definition is set at the correct size.
Rotate/copy the component 90° and make three copies to complete the four-sided twist. We now have a twisted square section that is 8 inches long.
Make a Move copy the four sides up 8 inches and make two additional copies. Now we have a 24 inch long twist with three turns. The spindles overall length is to be 34 inches so I moved the twist components up 5 inches.
For the ends of the spindle I drew a square across the end of the twisted portion. Then I made a 1/8 inch Offset to the outside.
I used Push/Pull to pull the outside down 1 inch and the center down 5".
To create the grooves around the square block I drew an arc to create a profile for Follow Me. Note the arc only has 4 side instead of the default 12. the grooves are very tiny details and dont need a lot of segments to read correctly in the drawing. Reducing the segment count here helpd to keep file size down.
The arc is copied down for the second groove. Follow Me is run around the block to create both grooves and the spindle end is made into a component.
The spindle end is copied to the top and flipped along the components blue axis. Then all of the components are selected and a nested component is created. This component is then saved for later use.
The spindle component drawn as I have done here makes a component that is only about 47 Kb. If it were drawn without using components for sub-assemblies, it saves out at over 450 Kb. By itself thats not all that large but when combined with other parts in a larger model, the total file size could get to be quite large. A component of less than 50 Kb will have miniimal effect on the overall file size.
Dave
Click Here and Start WoodWorkingMonday, February 24, 2014
WHAT TO DO WITH A BAD DESK DRAWER
This is one of my favorite types of projects to work on. Something passed on to me from
someone who knows no matter how bad it looks believes I can turn it into
something fabulous. And this desk did come out looking amazing so keep reading.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
How To Create A Herb Garden
Create a Dryland Garden
How to make a herb garden (thats portable) - Better Homes and ...
How to make a herb garden (thats portable) - Better Homes and
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
A Pretty Cool Nail Gun
Even as I cut my teeth with wood to wood tried and true joinery, I still remain a big fan of metal fasteners. Pneumatic nail guns rank high on my list of favorite fastening tools (I own 6 of them). Heres Fine Homebuildings introduction of a new cordless trim nailer from Senco. It looks like a revolutionary unit that Id love to pick up some day. If only the price wasnt so steep.
The Wood Shed Again Last time for a while
Ma ... on the new porchette ....
Still working on it ... My firewood arrived Saturday, and construction will have to take a break until thats stacked in the shed. Fortunately, we were able to get the little bit of inside framing work done this past weekend and were good to go ... Well finish the outside over the course of the summer, with the work sprinkled in at a little more leisurely (if thats possible considering I started back in April) pace ... All work, (even if its fun work), and no play makes Jack a dull boy .... Click the photos to enlarge them ...
Monday, February 10, 2014
a claro walnut slab desk
we shipped another in our series of shaker leg claro walnut slab desk and tables this week and it is now on its way to wisconsin. its similar in design to the last claro slab table we made and is, in fact, a slab from the same log ... this slab was closer to the heart of the tree though, and the figure was a bit darker and richer. lots of little curls ... click the photos to enlarge them ... 
the process for this project was typical, and it started with the selection of the slab ... this can happen on the internet through one of my suppliers, like good hope hardwoods. we then planned the trim cuts and did a plan view drawing, placing it in the room to check clearances and proportions above.
we decided to straighten the angled edge somewhat to get rid of most of the spidery crack which required me to fire up my trusty chain saw. that always takes me back to me logging days in the early 70s..
we trimmed the ends just a bit too to get rid of some drying cracks
next the base pieces were bolted together and routed into the bottom of the slab for additional stability. once these bases are bolted on, the structure is completely rigid and there is no wiggle or shake whatsoever. in this case, the client chose a blackened rather than our original satin polished base. i kind of like the new blackened look myself ..
we then had to design the drawer structure to provide knee room and acceptable storage at the same time ... we came up with drawers that were about an inch and a half deep inside, which seemed to provide ample room for knees.
we ended up with some (3) secret compartments in the structure which are always fun to design and execute .... there is even a hidden tool that sam made for opening the main compartment ...
heres a final look of the bottom of the desk. in the end, we notched the sides of the drawer box so that the base could be removed without disturbing the drawer box itself ... the desks final destination is a second floor home office and, completely assembled it probably weighs close to 400 pounds ... two people can pick it up, but flipping it on its side and carrying it up a flight of curving steps would be a challenge for all but the most rugged of us. the movers were extremely happy to have us disassemble it for them ... reassembly is 8 lag bolts and 4 #14 screws. 5 minutes, tops ...
we added a few dividers to the drawers and went with chestnut pencil trays in each drawer ... good to go ... blanket wrapped shipping by plycon was professional and reasonable considering that wisconsin is not around the corner from here ... happy thanksgiving if i dont get a chance to write again !!Bathroom Remodel � A step back
After looking at the medicine cabinets for a while, it was decided that they were too high. So I pulled them out and am in the process of lowering them 4.5”. With the SawsAll, I cut the sheetrock down and then cut the framing back 1.5”. I built a frame to go in the top of the opening and added sheetrock to it. I have started mudding the patch. Once that is done, I’ll re-paper and re-install the medicine cabinets and light fixtures. Then I’ll be back to where I was…
A House In The Trees Part II
Initially, I thought I’d just get two 2”x8”x18’ boards and make an 18’ beam. If I did that and discarded the 10’ one I’d already made, I could shift the other two down in location and still end up with the triangle shaped platform I had in my head.
In the morning, before going out to get the 18’ boards and walked the site again, with a slightly clearer head. While an 18’ beam would allow me to make the triangle shaped platform I’d intended, as I stood there between the trees I realized that the triangle was going to be too small. If I added a post to act as a fourth tree, I could turn the triangle into a rectangle and just about double the size of the tree house platform.
With this new plan, I headed to the store and picked up two (2) 2”x8”x16’ board to make a second beam for the long side and two (2) 2”x8”x10’ boards to make a second beam for the short end. I also picked up a 4”x4”x12’ post for the fourth “tree.”
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| Additional beams during glueup. |
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| The easiest hole Ive ever dug. |
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| The four trees for the Tree House. |
Other Tree House posts.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Friday, January 31, 2014
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Friday, January 24, 2014
How To Build A Shed With The Suitable Woodworking Tools
The 1st thing to figure out is why you want to have got a woodworking shed in your garden. Do you want to have it since you need somewhere to place all your garden tools or do you want to put your golf equipment there? Do you plan to hide there to relax from time to time when youre tired and need several private time or do you want to allow your puppies play there?
There are lots of possible reasons why you want to have got a woodworking shed and no reason is better than the other one. Theyre all quite understandable and as long as you plan your work before you do anything youll most probably become really happy with this new small building in your garden.
The 2nd thing you need to figure out is where you want to place the woodworking shed. Is there an ideal spot in the garden where it would be suitable to place it? There are a few things you have to remember when youre trying to choose where it has to be placed. The first thing to remember is that you need to make it in a place where it wont bother your neighbors or several member of your family. Thats really important to think about when youre planning the construction. Another thing to keep in mind is that it has to be placed where it isnt hiding the garden through the sun.
The 3rd thing to figure out is how big you want to your woodworking shed to be. This depends upon what you want to use it for. It has to be big if you want a lot of puppies to play there but it doesnt have to be as big if you just want to put your golfing equipment there. Itll be really simple to figure this out when you know what purpose your new woodworking shed has.
Answer these questions, one at a time and when youve done that its time to begin designing your new woodworking shed. Youll shortly discover that it can be really fun to plan and build something like this.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
a couple of cherry dining tables
